Introducing: Daniel Mastine, Executive Managerial Editor
1. Pourquoi le droit de la santé?
It never fails to amaze me at just how powerfully health care delivery/rights directly impacts individuals and communities. When I reflect it seems that Health Law and I really chose each other. It was a buried interest that at least initially, I never foresaw leading anywhere. A practicing Nurse of 7 years, I found I could never get enough exposure to patient advocacy situations in the clinical setting. Additionally I have also always been passionate about learning what makes the Quebec Health Care System tick; how its various elements interact. For some odd reason, I’ve always wanted to be a part of the dialogue that shapes and promotes how the system evolves.
So from Nursing I turned to public policy and public administration, completing a Master in the field. The further I delved into public policy the more I realized that health governance is, at its heart, significantly influenced by legal frameworks that only law school could help me understand and interact with. So ultimately I see myself as working to gradually blend my background and expertise towards legal health policy making. I guess it was only natural that upon my arrival to the faculty, that I would be attracted to the MJLH.
2. What was your favourite MJLH moment?
My favorite moment would have to be when I confirmed the final speaker for last year’s continuing legal education forum on the McGill University Health Center’s “Super-hospital Project.” Instantly I knew that the event was going to be a unique experience. It would bring together key players that made a multi-billion dollar project come to fruition; a project that is going to significantly change the face of the how specialized health services are delivered on the island of Montreal and throughout the province. It would also showcase the decision making process for the project and outline how the various players were able to bring it all together.
The event was really a team effort, with the entire MJLH rallying to pull off a very interesting and successful forum. The fact that we had managed to get the lawyer in charge of writing up the agreement, the president of the construction consortium, and the ministry of finance director who supervised the process, was indeed a coup. Sitting in the wings was the hospital’s director of legal services, and a host of other important people. I was later advised that even at the height of the negotiations for the agreement; these individuals had never met all at one, more than a handful of times before.
In my mind this was a concrete example of the MJLH facilitating a dialogue between players in the health care system. To me it illustrates that the MJLH punches above its weight, even outside of the parameters of its publication mandate.
3. What is the quirkiest thing about McGill law?
Probably the quirkiest thing about McGill Law is the building itself. There are large swaths of the building that see near continuous use and then there are others that hardly ever see any activity at all. There are the old sections that comprise the faculty, mixed rather haphazardly, with those of the new. Certain doors are open at certain hours and others are not accessible at all, or have been blocked off.
Lighting for many of these areas is also time specific. On numerous occasions I have been in the middle of a study session only to have the lights go off in an entire section. Wi-Fi signal varies from minute to minute, sometimes it seems by the way one tilts one’s head. I’m not aware of any metal artifacts being present in my head, so I am at a loss to explain this rather interesting phenomenon.
4. Qu’est-ce que vous avez fait cet été ?
This summer I kept myself very occupied but also took some time to travel. I spent a month in Europe, visiting large parts of: France, Spain, Switzerland, and Italy. While I wasn’t travelling, I was also working at local area CLSC’s as both a clinic and home care nurse. Needless to say the summer passed very quickly and it almost feels as though I somehow misplaced it somewhere. I’m presently working on trying now to find it again; but will probably reside myself to having lost, this one at least, for good.
5. What are you doing when you’re not at the journal or at law school?
HA…when is this exactly…let me think? I actually moved closer to school this past summer. It’s great because it offers the convenience of going home for lunch and stumbling to or from the library late at night. And yes, occasionally coffeehouse!
Problem is it can also feel like I’m NEVER NOT at school or working on the journal. So from time to time I head out to the Eastern Townships at my parents. Lots of stuff to see and do: animals, 4 wheelers, cooking, skiing, horseback riding, etc… I also try to jog the mountain a couple of evenings a week, assuming the weather is good and I haven’t started exams prep.
McGill Journal of Law and Health 